Pass the intelligence bill

President George W. Bush is right to call House Democrats to account for failing to pass urgently needed authority to continue the program for enhanced surveillance of terrorist threats that expired Feb. 16. Failure to do so would be highly irresponsible.

On Thursday, for the third time this week, the president urged the House of Representatives to pass an intelligence authorization bill he can sign. This time the president addressed the issue in an opening statement at a press conference. He contended that failure to pass the bill "raises the risk of reopening a gap in our intelligence operations" aimed at foreign terrorists "and that is dangerous." Democrats dismissed his demands as "fear-mongering," but The New York Times reports that the expiration of a surveillance law has in fact made it "uncertain" that American telecommunications companies will cooperate with the government. Mr. Bush said Thursday, "Without the cooperation of the private sector, we cannot protect our country from terrorist attack."

Although both the House and Senate have passed versions of a bill to authorize continued intelligence surveillance under loose court supervision, the House refused to include retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that from 2001 to 2007 helped the government tap calls from foreign terrorist suspects to the United States without a court order.

The companies cooperated with a program authorized by Mr. Bush, who assured them that his powers as commander-in-chief during legally authorized military operations were a sufficient guarantee of legality. Now they are subjects of more than 40 lawsuits seeking billions in damages for alleged invasion of privacy.

The House leadership and some other top Democrats apparently want to see these lawsuits proceed. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., on Thursday accused the president of wanting to "avoid accountability for the unlawful surveillance of Americans."

If the House leadership wants to hold Mr. Bush accountable for what they see as unlawful surveillance, encouraging civil lawsuits — which Mr. Bush said he suspects lawyers see as a "financial gravy train" — is not the straight road forward. Faced with a choice between helping the government eavesdrop on terrorist suspects and upholding the right of individuals to sue for hypothetical damages, surely most Americans would side with the president. Indeed, a Senate bill authorizing the retroactive immunity passed by a large bipartisan margin.

The president said there is now every reason to believe that the Senate bill would gain bipartisan support in the House, if the leadership would let it come to a vote. By holding it up, the House leaders are not only leaving the telecom companies out in the cold for their past cooperation, they are also making it harder for the government to gain telecom cooperation in ongoing surveillance programs. Moreover, by letting enhanced surveillance authority expire, they are indeed causing a potentially dangerous gap in the nation's defenses.

Intelligence agencies cannot connect the dots to detect new plots if they don't find the dots in the first place. The House leaders are creating an unnecessary cloud of uncertainty in a critical area of intelligence operations where there should be great clarity. The president is right to try to force the issue.